


Survivor

by TheMajesticLauren



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bleeding Effect, Desmond Miles Needs a Hug, First Civilization, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Non-Consensual Super Powers, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Assassin's Creed III, Scarification
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2020-10-05 01:48:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20480912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMajesticLauren/pseuds/TheMajesticLauren
Summary: Desmond survived using the Eye and made it past December 21st, but not without the First Civilization leaving him one last gift. What does that mean for Abstergo who never stole his body and used his DNA? And what about the four Assassins?





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time actually fully putting the effort into making a multichapter story and I'm so excited! I started this story because I wanted to play around with Desmond's glowy arm that we know basically nothing about and it snowballed into this.
> 
> Also, this chapter is being counted towards the "Cry Into Chest" square for my Bad Things Happen Bingo.

In the end, he stayed alive out of pure spite and stupidity.

“Fuck you, Juno.” He spit out between gritted teeth as the van jolted him around. He clenched his left hand into a fist and tucked it to his side, the pain making him afraid of lashing out. “After everything, you char my hand black too? How _dare_ you.”

William stood and pushed Desmond’s shoulders down onto the makeshift bed. The younger assassin glared at his dad but eventually passed out. William sighed in relief, but couldn’t help but notice that Desmond almost didn’t seem to recognize him in that moment. The pain and shock hadn’t made him completely delirious, but it was a close thing.

“It’ll be okay, son.” William murmured, as he rubbed his thumbs across his arms in what was hopefully a comforting manner. The animus and equipment rattled around them as the van sped off for civilization. He looked to the front of the van, “How long?”

Rebecca looked up from her tablet for a moment and answered. “It depends. We can get him to a general hospital in 30, but we have no way of securing his identity right away. With everything going on, Abstergo would be on us in a _second_ if we checked in. Not to mention the fact that they’re probably not equipped to handle this.”

William clenched his fist. He didn’t like it, but he knew where this was going. “And the other option?”

Rebecca paused for a moment before answering with a hint of guilt in her voice. “The closest Headquarters with the necessary supplies is a day’s drive away.”

Desmond groaned beside him, his eyes scrunching in pain as he shifted back and forth. The blackened arm shined with its strange pattern for a moment before dying back down. The more the arm glowed like bright blue circuitry, the longer Desmond stayed in pain. William couldn’t even begin to imagine the agony his son was in. All he could hope for was that the damage to his arm had burned away his pain receptors as well. He didn’t think Juno was that kind, though.

Desmond’s arm spasmed and surged a bright blue once more, before slowly fading back to black. His skin seemed paler than it did a moment ago.

William didn’t want to know what would happen if the arm stayed on without Desmond’s control. He needed help fast.

Shaun cleared his throat from the driver’s seat, where he was speeding just enough to not get pulled over and cause an even larger delay. “We can’t risk going to the hospital. There would be no point in saving his life if Abstergo snatches him away the second we do.” 

Rebecca made a noise of protest but Shaun quickly cut her off. “He wouldn’t want that and you know it.”

They knew he was right. Desmond would rather die than be back in the hands of Abstergo. They would never let him go and he’d never be able to escape now that they knew his capabilities. They’d drug him and leave him in the Animus for good. Abstergo would be prepared for him this time. Desmond didn’t have a chance of fighting back in his current condition.

<strike>They didn’t have anyone on the inside anymore, too.</strike>

They knew Desmond never expected to live through using the Eye. Hell, none of them believed they’d all come out unscathed. 

But now, the world was saved and there were no current threats that needed to be solved. Desmond would finally have a chance to _live_ for a moment.

They just had to get him there.

Shaun spoke up again. “If we stop to get supplies and medication, we can get him there alive and in one piece. Rebecca?”

“Already on it.” She replied without needing to be asked. She searched for facilities sympathetic to the Assassins who would be willing to part with their resources. They’d have to be quick though. She had a feeling that once the flare hit the field Desmond set up, the doomsdayers would be out in full force, making it nearly impossible to get extra supplies. It would happen any moment now.

“Got one.” She said after a few moments of silence. She put the map onto the tablet and held it up for Shaun. The British man took one look at the map and sharply turned the wheel, impeccably missing the traffic and heading back towards where they came from.

Rebecca quickly clutched the tablet before it fell to the ground and William put his arm around his son, keeping him in place. William heard the two bickering up front once the van righted itself and looked to the younger man lying quietly next to him.

Desmond stayed unconscious through it all.

* * *

“Until we can get him real help, we’ll have to treat it like a third degree burn.”

Shaun rustled through the bag of supplies Rebecca had gotten them. He grabbed the bag of fluids and an IV and handed it off to William. The father would have to kneel on the trunks Desmond laid on to get access to the safe arm. While he got to work placing the IV into Desmond’s unburned hand, Shaun handed Rebecca two pillows. “Place these under his feet and the burned arm, we need to prevent him from going into shock any more than he already has.”

Rebecca nodded and got to work, taking extreme care in placing the pillow under his arm. They were all wearing sanitary gloves at this point, but the van was only so clean. They needed to prevent infection.

The burn wasn’t acting how a third degree burn should have been. It seemed to have skipped the burn stage and went straight to a scar. A large and deeply painful scar.

Shaun gently got to work, cautiously applying antibiotic cream to the areas that seemed the least painful first. The British man’s worry grew stronger when Desmond didn’t so much as flinch at the touch.

“Once the fluids are empty we can give him something for the pain.”

“He doesn’t seem to be reacting to you, though? Does it still hurt him?” Rebecca asked, seemingly anxious to know the answer.

Shaun sighed, “The pain combined with dehydration and shock is probably doing him in. Although, I’m a bit concerned that the reason he’s still unconscious is because his body is in that much pain. It’s just a theory, of course, one we won’t know the answer to until he wakes up, but-”

Rebecca cleared her throat and shook her head, glancing at William with sympathy in her eyes.

Shaun closed his eyes. He had forgotten for a moment what was truly at stake. He shook his head and got back to work. “Right, sorry.”

William got up and grabbed a clean blanket from the bag. He unfolded it and placed it gently on Desmond’s form, before getting into the driver’s seat.

“I trust you two can handle it from here?” He asked without looking backwards. The solar flare had hit the shield a few moments before they had arrived, making every driver on the road erratic with fear.

The two shared a glance and said their affirmatives. They would give him his space. It seemed that William truly was beginning to care for his son. He had thought, just like the rest of them, that Desmond wouldn’t make it to the 22nd.

It would be up to them to make sure he made it to the 23rd.

* * *

With only a few hours left until they made it to the headquarters, Desmond started to wake. Fast.

Shaun had all of two minutes to finish applying the burn cream before Desmond was moving and attacking everything in range, flinging his arms about as if he still had the hidden blade on his arm or a tomahawk in hand. Every movement caused him to wince but he didn’t stop. Rebecca quickly jumped up and took the wheel from William, allowing him to run to the back of the van and help hold him still.

Shaun gripped the flailing arm by the bicep and finished applying the cream as quickly as he could. Desmond shook in his father’s arms while tears brimmed in his eyes without his consent. William gently turned his son’s head towards him and felt his forehead. It was burning hot and his eyes were glassy with fever. Despite the lack of infection in his arm, the terrible burn and pain was giving his body too much stress.

The IV bag had run out of fluids a while back, and when William glanced up at the bag that had replaced it a few hours before, he felt his heart plummet when he saw it empty as well. They were out of pain medication, too.

Now that Desmond was at least semi-awake, they could attempt to get fluids in him. Shaun handed William a bottle of water after he finished wiping his hands of the cream. He hadn’t wanted to keep causing the other man pain, but in the long run it was necessary. 

“Desmond? Son?” William said to the fevered man. Desmond was still turned towards his father, making it easy for him to hide his face in his shoulder and chest. William knew his son would be dehydrated soon, if he wasn’t already, with the crying and sweat from the fever.

For a moment a flash of irritation appeared in William’s mind. _‘Sit up straight. Stop being a wuss. Be a man.’_ all snapped into his thoughts before he forcefully shoved them out. Now wasn't the time for that. His son was one of the strongest and most stubborn people he knew, and he wouldn’t allow himself to think like that when his son was in genuine, heartbreaking pain. There was no reason to put up appearances, not for him.

Nothing about this was pretty.

He had saved the world, paying his body as the price.

“Desmond, you need to drink.” He said strongly, but not without kindness. His son never did respond peacefully to commands.

He felt the younger assassin take a deep breath, before he lifted his head and looked at the water. He didn’t look totally coherent, but he was focused. Even if he didn’t know what it was he was doing, or where he was doing it, he knew he had to.

The dark pit in his heart that William had always ignored taunted him with the knowledge that the bleeding effect had given him plenty of practice.

“Drink slowly.”

Desmond took a sip and sputtered around the drink, water going down the wrong pipe. The assassin leaned forward out of his father’s grasp, curling around his charred arm.

Without lifting his head, Desmond mumbled, “I’m pretty fucked up, huh dad.”

The other three assassins who couldn’t help but listen in let out a soft laugh. He wasn’t totally out of it, then.

“Yeah, son, you are. But we’ll get you fixed up.”

“You’re not gonna put me back in the Animus, right?”

The assassins’ hearts clenched in pain and sorrow. They could tell he meant it as a joke, but there was a genuine question underneath it. He was right to ask, though. The last time something like this happened, they threw him into the Animus and hoped for the best. Sure, it ended up working, but Desmond had lost more precious time in the real world and watched Clay die in front of him.

They had assumed that his time in the Animus had helped him sync with his ancestors better and lose the bleeding effect, but they never outright talked about it despite Shaun’s offer. They hoped that maybe one good thing had come from the coma. But now, with two more ancestors under his belt, maybe it would just come right back again.

God, they hoped not. He had enough on his plate as it was.

“No, son.” William answered softly, helping Desmond lay back on the makeshift bed. “You’ll be better in no time.”

His arm started to glow as he slowly laid back down. Desmond’s neck and back arched in pain, his teeth grinding as the glow slowly brightened. William watched on in silent horror with no way of helping. Less than a minute later, Desmond dropped back onto the mattress and let out a shudder. His eyes were closed and his breathing started to even out. William reached out and felt his pulse slowly calm down into a more normal rate.

William sat back. Desmond’s arm hitting the pillow seemed to cause him no pain; was his theory right? Was it just the mysterious glow that was hurting him? The act of charring away his skin had caused the fever and shock, but the rest of the time he only seemed to be in pain when the First Civilization powers acted up.

Unfortunately, that was much harder to fix. They needed to figure out what was causing it to glow.

“Rebecca, how much longer?”

“We still got two hours left, Bill.”

William let out a heavy sigh and rubbed the stress off his face. Shaun moved to the front of the van and sat next to Rebecca to keep her company.

_‘Two hours left’_ thrummed in the minds of the assassins. They had a feeling it would only get worse from there.

* * *

“Rebecca, run inside and let them know we’re here. Quickly.” William ordered while he and Shaun prepared Desmond to be moved. Shaun removed the IV from his arm and William quickly packed up the spare medications and creams they had gotten. He didn’t know what would end up being useful.

Within a minute, Rebecca was running back with the doctor in charge right behind her. She positioned the portable stretcher they had brought right near the van, ready to receive the young assassin. She grabbed the bag of medications and hung it on the corner of the stretcher.

“Bill!” The doctor shouted. The man jumped into the van and helped the other two prepare Desmond for transport.

“What are we looking at here?” He asked and he glanced at the arm.

William let out a tense sigh as they lifted him up together. “Mixture of a third degree burn with First Civilization technology.” He said as they slowly walked backwards as a group, lowering him onto the stretcher.

Desmond groaned as they placed him down, arm glowing in plain view for the doctor to see. His eyes widened. He had never seen anything like it before. The closest thing he could think of was the Apple, but that was a machine, not ingrained into a person.

“Should I treat it as if it’s like the Apple?” The doctor asked. He had heard what Desmond had done to the Templar agent on their team. If he didn’t have control over the arm, who was to say there wouldn’t be a repeat event.

“Treat it with caution, but I’ve touched it while it glowed and nothing happened.” William said as they stepped out of the van and started towards the facility. He knew the man was just doing his job, but he refused to let the doctor fail in his duty over misplaced fear. “It hurts him each time it glows.”

The doctor nodded in response and started his examination once they reached the makeshift ER. The doctor moved the x-ray machine and positioned it above the arm. Upon starting the machine, the arm glowed again, showing its technological design. He thought back to the footage he had seen from William’s rescue; it was eerily similar to the light that glowed on the Apple’s victims’ foreheads. 

The doctor’s assistant came over from the bed to usher the three remaining team members out to the waiting room. They had already stayed longer than they should have. “We’ll let you know if we need anything.” She said over the sound of Desmond in pain. 

And then she was gone, leaving them standing there with the sudden bone exhaustion that hits after a full day of driving under distress.

Shaun took a deep breath as the other two assassins dropped into the nearby chairs. “Coffee, anyone? Tea?” He asked, suddenly gripped with the need to be useful again. There was nothing here that needed his expertise. There was nothing like this in history, at least not that he had ever stumbled upon before.

The two mumbled their answers for coffee and Shaun left to wander the hallways in search of a vending machine. Once he reached a machine, he reached inside his pockets for coins to pay. Instead, he found a phone that wasn’t his.

It was Desmond’s.

Shaun had completely forgotten that he had grabbed it off the temple floor in their escape. He powered it on and couldn’t stop the tears that grew in his eyes despite his best effort. His lockscreen was a picture of the four of them, Lucy included, before it had all gone to shit. It was one of the rare nights where Desmond wasn’t going crazy from the bleeding effect and they had enough time to take a night off.

For one night, they got to act like normal twenty year olds.

God, Shaun really needed Desmond to be alright. He had sacrificed himself for the world, and Shaun had treated him like shit all the way up to that point.

The Brit wiped away his tears and grabbed the two ordered coffees and headed back towards the waiting room. He had just realized he had forgotten his own tea when he heard a commotion. Shaun pocketed the two cans of coffee and ran back to the assassins.

When he got back to the waiting room he saw the ER doors wide open and everyone surrounding Desmond. He ran to stand next to them and felt his breath catch. “What’s happened?” He asked over the noise.

Rebecca put a hand on his arm and pulled him slightly away from Desmond, but still kept him in her sights. “His arm won’t stop glowing after the x-ray.” She explained with tears in her eyes.

“But-” He started.

“I know.” She said, nodding her head gravely. “His heart is gonna give out if it doesn’t stop soon.”

Shaun looked back to the bed and saw that William had switched from yelling at the doctor, to begging him to save his son. Shaun never thought he’d see the day, and now that he had, he wished he hadn’t.

They needed to think. What could have caused it to switch gears and stay online?

“Is it the mixture of current and ancient technology?” He said while walking back towards the doctor. “Could that be what’s causing it?”

The doctor tore his gaze away from William and looked to the historian. “It could be, yes.” He said hesitantly.

Rebecca interjected, “What if we reintroduce it to its own technology?” 

The three assassins looked to each other and reached the same conclusion.

The Apple.

Shaun took off without warning, sprinting to the van where they had left Desmond’s belongings. The coffee slushed around in their cans before Shaun grabbed them from his pockets and threw them off to the side. Without the annoyance of things rattling around in his pockets, Shaun reached the van in no time.

It was stupid of them, but it worked out in their favor that they had forgotten to lock the van doors and Shaun was able to jump in right away. He quickly grabbed the small bag and ran back. He unzipped the bag while he ran but was careful not to touch the Apple itself.

“Here!” He yelled as soon as they were back in view.

Desmond tremored behind them in an almost seizure-like state. The assassins cleared a path for him to his open, glowing hand.

Shaun slid in front of the bed and dumped the Apple into Desmond’s hand.

At first, nothing happened.

But then, without warning, the blue glow turned _gold._

The room around them blurred, the walls glowing the same pattern that Desmond and his ancestors always saw when speaking to the First Civilization.

_ **Oh Chosen One, You Have Survived.** _

Shaun looked around and realized the doctor had disappeared. This speech was not for his ears, then.

_ **What Will You Do Now That Our Planning Is Over?** _

_‘Live’_, Shaun thought quietly to himself. Unknowingly, the other two thought the same thing too.

_ **We Leave You One. Last. Gift.** _

_‘Bloody hell, this can’t be good’._

The walls around them shifted. The gold disappeared and the room returned to normal. As the last piece of gold disappeared, the voice whispered once more.

_ **The Path Is Now Yours.** _

Shaun, Rebecca, and William turned towards Desmond. The arm faded to black and his eyes slid open a sliver. 

They flickered gold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think! I've started chapter 2 but it may take a while now that school has started back up.
> 
> [Tumblr](https://desmondmlles.tumblr.com)   
[Twitter](https://twitter.com/_NOCTlS)


	2. Catching Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy cow?? I've never received so much support before, thank you all so much!
> 
> This chapter is being counted towards my Bad Things Happen Bingo for 'Arm in a Sling'.

“Guys, I’m fine. I swear.” Desmond said placatingly. He put his one good arm behind him and pushed himself up into a seated position. The hospital bed wasn’t the comfiest, but the room at least offered enough privacy for the two assassins to hound him.

“Yeah, no. You’re definitely not _fine_, mate.” Shaun said while gesturing to the charred arm gently resting in a sling.

Desmond quietly scoffed and tried to play it off. “What, this? Doesn’t even hurt anymore.”

From out of the corner of his eye he saw Rebecca wrap her arms around herself and look at her feet. Shaun looked like he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to hit him or not. They both looked upset at how nonchalant he was being.

Desmond frowned and looked down at his arm. His right arm was being held up in a sling as a precautionary measure until they figured out how damaged the layers of skin were. He could move his fingers with only a little pain, which was nothing compared to the head-splitting pain the bleeding effect used to give him.

And, he still had his tattoo on the other arm. All in all, not so bad.

Sure, it might have been killing him a few hours ago. And sure, it may be burnt to a crisp, but it was fine now. He would deal with it later. The bigger issue came first.

His gaze moved farther down to his bag wrapped around his waist like a fanny pack. The Apple sat inside it, not glowing but constantly putting out an energy only he could feel. It gave him a feeling almost like tinnitus; a constant buzz that he not only heard but felt in every one of his body’s cells.

Desmond wished the incessant buzzing would give him the knowledge of why the Apple was so necessary to his life now, but alas, it did not.

They were all in the dark together.

Desmond sighed at looked back up at the two assassins. “Hey, look, uh.” he started, “Thanks. For saving me and all. I’m sure it wasn’t easy.”

Rebecca locked eyes with him and gave a soft smile. She nodded, and it almost felt like he was being forgiven for more than just the last few days.

His gaze moved over to Shaun who resolutely refused to look at him. “You did save the world, after all.” The man cleared his throat and glanced at him. “It was the least we could do.”

Desmond smiled but let the room fall into a comfortable silence. The two assassins sat down to read on their phones, but they didn’t seem burdened by whatever was on it. It was almost peaceful, in a way.

The peace lasted a maximum of ten minutes.

“Abstergo expected you to die.” Was William’s opening statement as he walked into the room for the first time since Desmond woke. “We got word that they have the technology and the capabilities to use DNA in the animus, even after the host has died.”

The silence in the room turned heavy. Desmond subconsciously hunched in to protect his burnt arm.

“So they were planning to keep using me even after I died?” He asked hesitantly, like he didn’t want to know the answer.

Rebecca and Shaun paled when William nodded his head.

Desmond didn’t know whether to be sad or upset, so instead he sat in shock, clenching and unclenching the arm that had decided his fate.

William spoke up again. “I have good news and bad news.”

Desmond shrugged his shoulders but didn’t care which he started with. What other news could his father have for him. “Yeah?”

“The bad news is Abstergo will most likely come after you now that they know you’re vulnerable. And no, I don’t know how they know that.” William said when Rebecca tried to interrupt. The Templars probably assumed they were the ones to stop the flare, and they were right.

As much as Desmond wished it wasn’t true, it made sense. He was dumb to think he’d ever get a break. Especially when the Templars didn’t even need him alive anymore. “And the good?”

He looked up to his father and was surprised to see a grin on the man’s face. “They spent all their money prepping for the doomsday event. They’re close to filing for bankruptcy.”

All sound in the room paused for a moment before the two other assassins whipped out their phones. Shaun started to laugh as he read from his phone. “They built bunkers worldwide that never even got used.” He said while wiping fake tears from his eyes. “Oh now that’s incredible.”

“Oh wow, it says they’re downsizing. This is great!” Rebecca exclaimed.

A beep from her phone drew her attention. Her eyes narrowed and she tapped frantically as the three men watched on.

“Rebecca?” Desmond asked.

“I had left a few cameras at the Temple on accident when we rushed out. I turned them on remotely yesterday, just to check if everything was all clear.” She paused long enough to make Shaun wave at her to continue. “Abstergo just entered and started searching.”

William looked upset as he turned around to leave, presumably to get more information on Abstergo’s plan. Desmond tried to think of what could have been left behind that would help Abstergo. The Animus? No, Becca would never leave it. The power cores? Sure, the Temple was still running, but how important was that anymore?

“I shouldn’t have left my toothbrush, has all my DNA on it.” Shaun mumbled from his corner of the room. Rebecca stuck her leg out and kicked him. “What? Not that it really matters, I guess.”

Desmond’s heart jolted for a moment before he remembered that he kept his toothbrush in his bag. At least something good had come out of being paranoid and on the run for his entire adult life.

William entered the room once more as he hung up the phone. He moved to stand in front of Desmond and looked at him, face serious.

“I need an honest answer here, son. What are the chances Juno is still at the Temple?”

Desmond took a moment and thought back to the last memories he had of the Grand Temple. When he put his hand on the pedestal, he was ready to die to save the world. A painless death, but still. He hadn’t expected his father and friends to run back to him once they saw him in pain. He hadn’t expected them to catch him, and especially not with him still alive. Getting practically dragged up the hill to the van was a blur, but he did remember Juno’s last words to him.

_“It is done. You have saved the world your own way, salvaging your life in the process.”_

He remembered hearing her say one last thing as they left the Temple grounds.

_“Our paths may now be separate, but I will get what I deserve. One way or another.”_

Desmond lifted his head and looked at the others in the room. He released a sigh and shook his head. “I don’t know for sure. She said she would _get what she deserved_, but who knows what that means.”

Shaun sat in thought before asking, “Why do you think you lived through using the Eye? Juno and Minerva made it sound like you… wouldn’t.”

Rebecca cleared her throat. “I was actually wondering the same thing.”

William didn’t say anything but it was clear he was wondering the same thing.

Desmond wished he had a solid answer for them.

“I… don’t know.” His father moved to argue with him but he continued. “Juno said all I had to do was place my hand on the pedestal, but I think there was more to it than that. She wanted me to do it blindly. To trust that that was all I had to do.”

“There was a hidden mechanic, wasn't there.” Rebecca said with an air of excitement, like she was ecstatic to finally figure out the last missing piece to the puzzle.

Desmond nodded vaguely. He’d never be able to think about his almost-demise with that much excitement, even if he did save the world.

“The Eye tried to shut me down, as if I was just a piece of technology like the Animus. I felt everything but my arm go numb, and at the last moment I realized The Eye was just another piece of technology, too.”

Desmond paused for a moment as what he had just said sunk in. An almost hysterical laugh escaped his lips before he covered them. They looked at him with worried eyes but he ignored them.

“All that time in the Animus ended up saving my life. Using the Eye felt like solving one of Clay’s puzzles. I knew _exactly_ how to control it so it wouldn’t kill me but still protected the Earth.”

Their gazes moved to Desmond’s new technology infused arm. And idea formed in their minds at once.

“Think you could control your arm the same way?”

Desmond grinned, “Only one way to find out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a bit of a shorter chapter but I wanted to get it out by the end of AC week. Also don't expect updates this frequent going forward unless I get super inspired.
> 
> Shout out to 'and history books forgot about us' by Lunarflare14 for the toothbrush joke. I've reread that fic so many times I thought Shaun saying that was real and was going crazy when I couldn't find it anywhere in canon.
> 
> [Tumblr](https://desmondmlles.tumblr.com)  
[Twitter](https://twitter.com/_NOCTlS)


	3. Breakthrough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Desmond makes a large leap in understanding how to use the powers he has gained.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm back for Desmond Day and AC Day!

“Alright, how do we want to start?” Desmond asked as he gently stretched his arms out, grateful to be back on his feet without too much pain.

Shaun and Rebecca sat off to the side with notes and tablets in hand, ready to record or spout off ideas if needed. William paced to the left of them in what they had begun dubbing ‘Mentor Mode’.

“You said it was like solving Clay’s puzzles. Explain that to me again.”

Desmond sighed but started explaining again anyway. He didn’t think putting it into words would help him much, but he was open to the idea at least.

“Rebecca said it looked like computer code for her, but to me it was more like a puzzle. It felt as if I solved them using instinct. Like with Eagle Vision, I just _knew_ how it was supposed to be done, even though I’d never heard of it much before.”

“So you hadn’t seen those types of puzzles before?”

“No, closest thing to it would be a rubix cube.” Desmond answered as he crossed his arms.

“So we focus on instinct then. The animus made you into the perfect assassin; we shouldn’t try and force anything just because it’s not an ideal cut and dry scenario.”

Desmond clenched his fists for a moment. The younger assassin didn’t enjoy hearing what his father had to say. Was he still his own person if the animus had literally changed his senses and memories? Was he even still human? Can he still be in control when his mind hallucinates and his body glows?

Was he the last piece of the puzzle to the device? The final piece of code?

“-mond. Desmond!”

He snapped back to awareness, “Sorry, what?”

William’s gaze softened for a moment before the mask appeared once more. “I said we should try and test it. Don’t drift off, yeah?”

Desmond nodded his agreement and stepped back from the assassins. “Instinct, huh?”

Shaun glanced up from his tablet, “So maybe don’t be, oh what would you call it, a control freak? Hmm?”

Rebecca snickered and replied, “If anyone here is the control freak it’s you, Shaun.”

Shaun looked affronted, “Excuse me-”

“Alright alright, all three of you are control freaks. Can we move on now?” William interrupted. God, it was like working with children.

Desmond smiled but quickly wiped it from his face as he got to work. Even if he hadn’t meant it to, Shaun’s attempt at an insult had calmed him.

He sat on the ground and folded his legs into a meditative pose, copying one he had seen and done as Connor before. The memories of Connor’s life floated towards him, but he did not panic. Instead, he let them float in and out of his head like water. Connor was the most connected to the earth, and Desmond could feel that he would need to become a bit like that too. Technology had quite literally taken over his life; he needed to go back to his roots.

He focused on the good parts of living on the farm. His mom. The trees. The flowers. The sunsets. The open air. The camp fires.

Without opening his eyes, Desmond murmured, “Give me something to burn.”

He vaguely heard someone rustling to retrieve some paper, but Desmond ignored it. The fire in his mind gave off heat. Warmth. A beautiful orange, just like the sunsets. He heard someone walk towards him and he held out his hand. He let the sheet of paper lay still on his hand, feeling it for what it was.

The paper was once a tree, just like the ones that still exist all across the world. The world that he had saved. This paper was clean; it had not been contaminated by humans and technology like he had been.

It had not been touched by Juno and the Isu.

Desmond felt something in his head _click._

The paper went up in flames.

He heard someone gasp in front of him, but he ignored it for the moment. He still had one more piece to work out.

He imagined the sun setting behind the trees. The orange leaving the sky and giving the air a cold chill that he could feel in his bones. He pushed the flames away and they ceased.

“Have anything for me to hack?” He asked, his eyes kept closed but able to think a bit more without a fire to focus on.

Rebecca made a surprised sound but stood up and walked towards him. She set the laptop down in front of him. “The program’s up, but I swear if you burn my baby…”

Desmond smirked, which did nothing to assuage her fears, but he was confident he wouldn’t call forth a fire.

This would take something else entirely.

If calling forth an element required focusing on nature, then using his arm’s technological parts should require focusing on technology.

He put his hand on the computer. He imagined Becca’s program like one of Clay’s. It was a puzzle of moving shapes and critical thinking. Desmond had never been to an actual school but that didn’t matter here. What mattered was using his brain’s skills like a computer. The pieces of the puzzle in his head spun around and clicked into place.

He solved the puzzle, and the computer made a little victory sound. The program had been hacked.

When he opened his eyes, the three assassins looked shocked. Desmond rubbed his neck and looked to his father. “Did I figure that out too quickly?”

His father snorted and shook his head. “No, son. I knew you could do it.”

He stood up and shook his legs out. Desmond spun his backpack to his front and unzipped it. The apple was off but warm to the touch. It had probably been glowing when he was using his arm. A quick glance to the other assassins confirmed it.

“We might want to figure out a way to hide the glowing.”

“On it!”

His father walked up to him as the others got to work analyzing what had just happened. Without needing to be prompted, Desmond explained to his father how he had managed to control it so easily.

“So if you focus on things that are free from Juno’s touch for fire, and Clay’s puzzles for technology, what do you do for the things that are touched by the Isu?”

Desmond opened his mouth to answer but paused. He didn’t actually have an instinctive answer ready at his fingertips this time. He should have known using his arm against the ancient civilization wouldn’t be as easy.

Desmond wanted to say it wouldn’t matter, but he knew that wasn’t true. He wasn’t naive enough to think he would never see them or their influence again.

Juno said they were on separate paths now, but is it right to ignore what she does just because he wants to be safe? And free? And the templars, could he ignore them just because they’re almost on their last leg?

No. Desmond was done running. It was time to bring the fight to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize it might seem like Des figured it out way too quickly (which don't worry, he hasn't figured it _all_ out yet), but considering he's been groomed to be the best assassin of all time I thought he'd be able to do this pretty early on.
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/_NOCTlS)   
[Tumblr](https://desmondmlles.tumblr.com)


End file.
